HELP NEEDED lockdown death??

[Furryposm]

So, I can get up to 100% to reach Day 19. However, as of right now, I'm getting ZERO hatch?

Using best choice bator. Humidity was 45% have humidikit to control that, temp control is working as I have 2 other therms in there to triple check. Auto turner on, goes slow and turns every 2 hours.

I have a lot of different eggs going, so when lockdown comes, I've been putting them in at 99.5-100 forced air hovabator with 55% humidity. I just ordered a humidity controller for that. Will be here next week.

But I candled eggs when I moved them to hatcher, and they were alive. Now all but 2 of the eggs I locked down were still alive last night??

I lost 6 ayam cemani eggs right before that. So I have some Svart hona due to go in lockdown next week. I'm scared to move them!! But if I turn off auto turner, the other eggs in Bator won't get turned??

I also read with ayam, they like 55% humidity during incubation, and 65-75% at hatch.

So when I moved these last guys in there, I raised it to 55% hoping that would help? Nope!

What if I leave them in original Bator without turning turner off? And not move to hatcher until pipped? Or at all??

This is just so weird

BTW do hens really stop turning eggs? Can they count? Lol

Just realized, I'm using plastic "type" shelf liner in bottom of hatching Bator for "no slip" do ya think maybe it could be that? I've read other people using it before??

 

[Pyxis]

Hello! Late death like that is usually a result of humidity problems. In your case, I think the humidity is too high. Have you been tracking the air cells or weighing the eggs to make sure they're losing the right amount of moisture?

Also, I breed ayam cemanis. Mine hatch best at 30% humidity throughout incubation and then around 65% at lockdown. If I tried to keep them at 55% the entire time, they'd drown.

Hens don't stop turning their eggs - they can't count. I've had eggs hatch right in my incubator with the turner on and the humidity not raised because I forgot when they were due - I had that happen a couple times this year. But in an incubator it's been shown we get the best hatch rates when we do stop turning on day 18. So turning them the whole time won't necessarily hurt them, but locking them down is still a good idea.

I wouldn't run staggered hatches in the same incubator, because, as you said, when locking down some eggs wouldn't get turned, and they would also be subjected to the high humidity of lockdown for the other eggs when they don't need it. It's best to move them into the separate incubator for lockdown.

 

[Furryposm]

I had my humidity at 40% during first 18 days, but lost a bunch to shrinkwrapping. I've played around a bunch with humidity, I've found that 45% I still get some shrink wrapping. So when GFF said do 55% through day 18 and up to 60-65% on lockdown I thought I would try it.

When I first started someone said do 85%!! Well that sucked, everyone drowned.

They have been losing 1/3 of the space in the shells, but I haven't weighed them. I thought about it, but GFF said to set the eggs and forget about them until day 18 then and only then to candle when moving to hatcher??

Why do so many variables work for some and not others??

I do have a mottled Java hatching right now. There are some Phoenix a hedona and 2 caguya eggs in there as well.

I swear everywhere I read it says ALL eggs are created equal?? But I really don't think that's the case.

BTW most of my eggs are shipped.

 

[Pyxis]

Shipped eggs are harder, so that might be playing a role. I'd start weighing them and see how they're losing weight so that you can be as accurate as possible. Try that and see if it helps. And you're right, 85% is crazy! I don't know who would say that. How much humidity you need also varies from place to place, depending on elevation etc so that could be why you're having a hard time. Start weighing each week and see if the eggs are losing the right amount and if not you'll be able to make adjustments and get the humidity just right. Then at least if you keep losing them you'll have humidity ruled out as the issue.

 

[Furryposm]

What's the best scale to weigh them on? Is there a graph somewhere saying what amount they should lose per week? Do you only weigh one? Just because I wanted to try GFF thing about not touching them.I just checked, and my indoor humidity in my front room is 46% and the Bator room right now is my dining room which is attatched to this room.

The other thing I've noticed is, they either have not internally pipped, but have absorbed yolk, or they have internally pipped but have Not absorbed yolk at all yet??? It's just weird. Thanks so much for your help. Maybe if I can ever get this down, I'll try and see if you have any eggs available.

 

[Pyxis]

I use this scale here: https://smile.amazon.com/American-W...qid=1470631254&sr=8-52&keywords=kitchen+scale

It works great for me Eggs should lose 13-15% of their weight throughout incubation so that's what I shoot for by lockdown. When I'm doing sensitive eggs like geese and peafowl I weigh them all individually but for chicken eggs I usually just use one egg as my guide that is average size for the batch - using a really small or really large one will throw you off because they lose weight at different rates. I weigh the eggs once a week to make sure they're on track and if they're not I adjust the humidity accordingly.

And if you're ever interested in eggs just send me a pm